Romney awarded bonuses to top aides

Mitt Romney’s campaign took out a $20 million loan in August and ended the month with $38 million less in the bank than President Barack Obama.

At the same time, the campaign gave out about $200,000 in bonuses to senior employees just after the Republican National Convention, which ended with the candidate not getting much of a bounce in the polls.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the bonuses were related to the former Massachusetts governor’s GOP primary performance.

“These were primary win bonuses pursuant to employment agreements paid after the convention,” Saul said in an email Friday morning.

According to the Post, Beeson received a $37,500 bonus on top of his monthly salary of $13,750. Rhoades, Chen and Gitcho received $25,000 each.

Meanwhile, Romney spent $66 million in August and took out a $20 million secure loan. Campaign officials have said the loan was needed to allow it to keep spending until Romney officially became the nominee and freed up general election funds.

Obama’s campaign raised $84.7 million and spent $83.7 million in August.